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The Reith Lectures

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The BBC's annual series of lectures from a major academic figure.

The Reith Lectures: The Century of the System

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Atul Gawande

02/12/2014

The Century of the System

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The impact of systems - from simple checklists to complex mechanisms - on medicine

The impact of systems - from simple checklists to complex mechanisms of many parts - on medicine in the past and in the future.

In this second lecture, Atul Gawande will focus on the impact that the development of systems has had – and should have in the future - on medicine and overcoming failures of ineptitude. He will dissect systems of all kinds, from simple checklists to complex mechanisms of many parts. And he will argue for how they can be better designed to transform care from the richest parts of the world to the poorest.

Atul Gawande is a practising surgeon at Brigham and Women's Hospital and professor at both the Harvard School of Public Health and Harvard Medical School. He is well known for his writing on medicine, and his research on medical error and performance. Among his other roles, he is Director of Ariadne Labs, a joint centre for health systems innovation, and Chairman of Lifebox, a global charity reducing unsafe surgery globally.

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